The confession every consultant should make but won’t
The Confession
I’ve written 44 posts about AI strategy. Built frameworks. Created roadmaps. Crafted implementation guides that would make any consultant proud.
You know what actually changed my business this month?
Playing with a shiny new Claude feature because I was procrastinating.
“Imagine with Claude” was a limited-time experiment—Max subscribers only, available for just five days. It generates software on the fly. No code. Just describe what you want and it builds it.
I wasn’t solving a strategic problem. I wasn’t following a framework. I was avoiding real work.
“Build me something that shows Utrecht time and US time,” I typed, mostly to see what would happen.
Twenty minutes later, I had accidentally solved my biggest daily frustration.
https://keep-it-straight-times.replit.app
How I Accidentally Fixed My Life
Here’s what actually happened:
3:47 PM Utrecht (Tuesday): Got an email from Claude: “Try Imagine – only 5 days left!”
3:48 PM: Thought: “I should be working on that client proposal.”
3:49 PM: Opened Claude Imagine instead.
3:50 PM: Stared at the prompt: “What do you want to build?”
3:51 PM: Realized I’d just asked ChatGPT “What time is 2pm EST in Utrecht?” for the 17th time that day.
3:52 PM: Typed: “Make a timezone converter for Utrecht and US times.”
4:10 PM: Had a working tool. Threw it into Replit to make it shareable.
4:11 PM: Went back to procrastinating.
Total strategic planning: Zero. Total frameworks consulted: None. Actual problems solved: The thing that’s been driving me insane for last five months.
ChatGPT Was So Done With Me
Every single day from Utrecht, I’d torture ChatGPT with the same questions:
“What time is 10am EST in Netherlands?”
“Is Indiana Eastern or Central?”
“When does US daylight savings end?”
“Wait, when does Dutch summer time end?”
“What about Arizona?”
“Actually is that 10am or 10pm in Utrecht?”
I swear ChatGPT’s responses got slower. Like it was sighing. This fucking gal again with the timezones.
I’m a productivity consultant. I charge companies to optimize their operations. I was using a $20/month AI as a kindergarten math tutor. Daily. Sometimes hourly.
The Utrecht Time Reality
Living in Utrecht, working with US clients is temporal chaos:
- Clients across 4 time zones
- Some observe daylight savings (but when?)
- Some don’t (Arizona, you maverick)
- Netherlands springs forward on different dates than the US
Last week’s disaster cascade:
- Scheduled “quick sync” for 3pm EST
- Calculated: That’s 9pm Utrecht
- Actually: 8pm (daylight savings mismatch)
- But wait: Client was in Denver
- So actually: 10pm Utrecht
- Missed it entirely
- Sent apology email at 11pm Utrecht (4pm Denver? 5pm? Who knows anymore)
My 44 Strategic Posts vs. What Actually Happened
What I’ve Been Preaching for Two Years:
- Map your business processes before automating
- Calculate ROI for every AI implementation
- Build governance frameworks first
- Align AI initiatives with strategic objectives
- Create comprehensive change management plans
- Establish centers of excellence
What Actually Solved My Problem:
- Got FOMO email about limited feature
- Procrastinated for 5 minutes
- Accidentally built something useful
- Threw it online
- Never thought about it strategically
- Just use it every day now
The Research That Proves I’m Not Alone
Anthropic just analyzed millions of Claude conversations. 57% of AI usage augments human capabilities rather than automating them. People aren’t executing grand strategies. They’re fixing tiny annoyances.
36% of occupations are using AI for at least a quarter of their tasks. They’re not waiting for the perfect framework. They’re just… messing around until something works.
My timezone converter is peak “messing around until something works.”
What This Unlocked
The timezone converter isn’t impressive because of what it does. It’s impressive because it proved something:
Before: “I need to look up timezones 50 times a week but that’s just how it is.”
After: “I spent 20 minutes and never think about this again.”
Now I look at every recurring annoyance differently. Not “that’s part of the job,” but “could this be a 20-minute fix?”
My current procrastination project? Building a chief of staff voice mode. Completely unnecessary. Zero business case. I just want my own Jarvis.
But here’s the thing: if I can automate timezone math while avoiding real work, imagine what happens when I actually try to build something ridiculous.
The business justification will come later.
The Anti-Strategy Strategy
Here’s what I’ve learned from 44 posts and one afternoon of procrastination:
Strategy says: Identify key pain points through systematic analysis
Reality says: You already know what pisses you off daily
Strategy says: Build a comprehensive automation roadmap
Reality says: Build the stupid thing that fixes today’s problem
Strategy says: Calculate ROI before implementation
Reality says: If it saves you from asking ChatGPT the same question 50 times, the ROI is infinite
Strategy says: Ensure stakeholder buy-in
Reality says: You’re the stakeholder. Buy yourself in.
Your Permission to Procrastinate
Next time you see a “limited time beta” or “new feature available,” don’t think about strategy. Just play with it.
Open Claude Artifacts, Replit Agent, or whatever shiny new AI tool just launched. Give it 20 minutes. Build something dumb:
- That calculation you do on paper every day
- That template you keep rewriting
- That question you Google repeatedly
- That thing that makes you slightly insane
Don’t optimize it. Don’t document it. Don’t calculate ROI.
Just build it, use it, and get back to procrastinating.
The Truth About AI Revolution
While we’re writing strategies and building frameworks, the real AI revolution is happening in 20-minute bursts of productive procrastination.
The tools that actually change our lives aren’t the ones we carefully selected after months of analysis. They’re the ones we built because:
- We were bored
- We were avoiding real work
- We got a FOMO email
- We had 5 minutes to kill
My timezone converter has saved me from:
- 200+ ChatGPT questions (and ChatGPT’s growing resentment)
- 5 missed meetings (and counting)
- Countless moments of “wait, what time is it there?”
- The daily humiliation of a tech consultant who can’t do time math
The Confession Within the Confession
Next week, I’ll write another strategy post. It’s what consultants do. We literally cannot help ourselves.
But tonight? Claude just released another experimental feature. Something about “teaching AI to use your computer” or whatever. It’s probably available for like 72 hours.
I have actual client work to do.
I’m definitely going to try the new feature instead.
And I’ll probably accidentally solve another problem I’ve been strategically ignoring for months.
Because that’s the real AI revolution: Not the transformations we plan, but the solutions we stumble into while avoiding real work.
Your Move
Stop reading about AI strategy. Yes, I see the irony of writing this in post #45.
That beta feature you got an email about? The one that expires tomorrow? Go play with it.
Your next business breakthrough isn’t in my framework or anyone else’s.
It’s in the 20 minutes you spend procrastinating with a tool you don’t really understand, building something dumb that accidentally changes everything.
Trust me. I’ve written 44 posts about doing this properly.
My biggest win came from doing it completely wrong.
P.S. – My timezone converter is ugly, basic, and the best thing I’ve built all year. It knows what time it is in Denver when I’m in Utrecht, which is more than I can say for myself.https://keep-it-straight-times.replit.app/
P.P.S. – ChatGPT, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry about all the timezone questions. We’re good now.
Further Reading
